Foot-accelerator.



A. EL SPENCER. FOOT AcbgLmAfm a APPLICATION mimi'lima 1'1 194 1,,Q55Ai79, V rammed Feb. '5, 1918 INVENTOB WITNESSES law? a ZI'ESpe/zcer" noausv ARTHUR E. SPENCER, OF LAKE CITY, FLORIDA.

FOUT-ACCELERATOR (mum Specification of Letters Itatcat.

Patented Feb. 5, state.

Application filed June 27, 1917. Serial No. 177,319. Y

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, Airrn'un E. Srnxonn, a citizen of the llnited States, residing at Lake City, in the county of'Columbia and State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Foot-AcceL erators, of which the following is a. speeifi. cation.

This invention relates to an improved type of foot accelerator for motor vehicles, the present .eml'iodiinent of the invention being designed primarily for use on Ford automobiles, although its application need not be limited thereto.

The main object of the invention is to provide an attachment whereby one pressure of the foot will supply the required amount of gas for any load and at the same time furnish the needed amount of hot air to reduce to a minimum the consumption of gas.

Another object is to provide an attachment of this character operated by a single toot. lever which is so connected that hot air is fed to the engine manifold simultaneously on the opening of the gas throttle ot the carbureter.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the inn vention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of What is claimed Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of an automobile showing the application of.

this invention,

Fig. 2 18 an enlarged side elevation show-- ing the carbureter and this improvement applied, and

Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of the can bureter and the improved parts applied thereto. 4 In the embodiment illustrated, an auto-- mobile is represented at A whose engine E is equipped with the usual carburetor C, the

' throttle valve stem .8 of which is equipped with the common type of l.-shaped crank TA movable in a horizontal plane and having in the free end of its longer arm an eye which usually receives the down-turned end E of a hand actuated rod R whose control member is positioned contiguous to the steering wheel, not shown The shorter arm of the crank L is equipped with a set screw or the like 8 adapted to abut a stop s on the carburetor C to limit the movement of said crank.

All oi the parts so far briefly described are of common construction, the end E of the red It being usually received in the eye of the crank l4 whereby endwise shifting of said rod by the operator will adjust the throttle valve by turning: its stein S. When using this improved accelerator however, the end E of the rod ll is removed from the eye of the crank L and is received in an arcuate slot. 1 formed in a flat horizontal substantially triangular plate .2 which overlies-the crank L. A fastening; element in the form of a bolt 3 is passed through this plate 2 and through the eye in the crank L while an additional bolt 4 passes through said plate and through the shorter arlnot the crank. The plate 2 is as above stated, preferably of approximately triangular shape, two of its sides being positioned at right: angles to each other while its third side is curved to conform to the curvature of the slot 1, the latter being disposed concentric with the stem S.

in addition to the objects above described, the plate 2 is formed with an aperture 5 with which is engaged one end of a coiled spring 6 which is connected at its other end with the fixed portion of the automobile shown at 7 and operates to return plate 2 and the throttle valve actuating crank li after the same has been operated as will presently be described. The plate 2 also has an aperture 8 with which. is engaged a chain 9 which connects said plate with a depending arm '10 ot a. rod ll, Said rod 11 being; connected at its front end with a crank rod '1) with which is connected a foot lever 13.

The rod 11 which is substantially i..- shaped in form has the long arm thereo'l' extending over and resting on a valve casing 14 which opens into the manifold M of the engine l) and is controlled by the valve, the stem .15 of which projects through said casing and has an aperture therein through which the depending; arm it) of rod ll passes, so that when this rod operated by the depression of the foot lever 13, this valve will be opened and sinniltancously the throttle valve of the carburetor opened by means of the connection of said rod arm 10 with the plate 2 by the chain 9.

till

This valve casing 14 communicates with the lower end of a cone-shaped hot air pipe 16 which is arranged in close proximity to the engine so that the air passing therethrough is heated and enters the manifold in this heated condition, thereby operating to thin the mixture fed into the manifold thus reducing the gas consumption required for operating the engine.

From the above description it will be seen that a single depression of the foot lever 13 willv cause the rod 12 to rock and thereby move rod 11 longitudinally causing the valve stem 15 to open the valve Within the casing i l and at the same time to exert a pull on the chain 9 and thereby open the throttle valve of the carbureter so that hot air and gas will be simultaneously fed to the engine by a single depresslon of the footlever.

From the foregoing'description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and of the method of operation Will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains and while I have described the principle of operation of the invention together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the device shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made as are within the scope of the claimed invention.

1 cla11n:- 1. In a deviceof the class described, a

valve operating lever, a slo ed plate con-,

a foot pedal operatively connected therewith, and a connection between said slotted i ated by said lever, said rod havinga right angular-1y disposed arm extending through said apertured valve stem, and afconnectio'n between the free end of said arm. and said valve.

3. A foo-t accelerator attachment for use in connection with the throttle valvesoperating crank of a carburetor and the ma-I11 fold control rod for said crank, said at--' tachment comprising a plate to be secui'ed to said cranln said vplate having an 'arcuate slot to be positioned concentric with the pivot of the crank, said slot being provided for the purpose -of slidably connecting the aforesaid manualcontrol rod with the plate, a foot actuated'qperating rod connected to said plate, and a hot 'air supply valvefor supplying air to the engine manifold also connected with said rod whereby a single pressure on said rod will operate to open said valve and actuate said late.

In testimony whereof I a it my. signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR nsrnncnn Witnesses: I i

. W. H. WILSON, J W. Lineman V nected therewith, an apertured valve stem, 

